Grab a OnePlus One, slap on a fox logo and some pretty, shiny orange trim and you essentially have the Wileyfox Storm. It’s an attractive, affordable handset which currently stands as one of the few official Cyanogen partner phones with flagship specs. It’s made by a British company, and my experience with it has generally been pleasing…
A recently published YouTube unboxing video reveals that Samsung has begun shipping its Galaxy Note 5 handsets with a warning label, telling users not to insert the proprietary stylus in the wrong way. It may seem like pointing out the obvious, but Sammy has very real reasons for warning users.
When the Samsung Galaxy Note 5 launched earlier this fall, it was discovered that the device didn’t like having the S-Pen stylus inserted in to its silo the incorrect way. It’s not a fault as such, since inserting it the wrong way is user error, but the fact that this error would break the smartphone wasn’t as forgivable.
Thanks to the S-Pen’s new clickable top — and the catches which hold the stylus in place when stowed — the top would catch on the inner ‘hooks’ and either get stuck, or break them. We detailed exactly what happens in an in-depth post back when the issue first came to light.
Samsung did halfheartedly address the issue in a statement back when the problem was at its most prominent, and did so by pointing people to the user guide which shows the correct insertion of the S-Pen. Clearly though, the issues haven’t stopped since then, and Sammy wants to make it as clear as possible to Note 5 buyers that the stylus only fits in one way.
Everyone is curious to get a glimpse of what it’s like using the first Android-powered BlackBerry. Thankfully, by downloading BlackBerry’s launcher and other custom software, you can find out, without spending several hundred dollars on a phone…
Motorola debuted two new phones at its event back in the summer, the Moto X Style (or Pure in the US) and the Moto X Play, which recently saw release as the DROID Maxx 2 in the States. Since I’ve already reviewed the X Play, I wanted to see if the X Pure/Style would be worth the extra money to customers looking to buy…
Last week a cool new app was launched which lets any user running Android 6.0 Marshmallow launch apps from their quick settings drop-down menu. I decided to take a look and shoot a quick video showing how to use it, and how — despite it taking a little time to set up — it can save a lot of time in your daily workflow. Check it out below…
Last week we shared a video with you produced by YouTube channel JerryRigEverything. In it, Jerry subjected his Nexus 6P to a bunch of durability tests before trying to bend it. The phone wasn’t very scratch or heat resistant, and even less bend resistant.
At the time, we were skeptical of how ‘bendy’ the Nexus really was. Having already suffered some serious damage, including a cracked screen, we thought the Nexus 6P‘s durability was already severely compromised even before the bend test was attempted. We weren’t the only ones to think that way either, so Jerry’s back with another video. This time, he didn’t do any of the durability testing and tried to bend the phone immediately after unboxing it and setting it up….
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Recently, I checked out the Wileyfox Swift, it’s one of the best phones on the market in Europe at its pricepoint. This is the Wileyfox Storm, the company’s more expensive device that aims to bring flagship specs at an affordable price point. Before reviewing it at a later date, we wanted to unbox it and see what we thought of the smartphone on first impressions…
Mobile gaming has come on leaps and bounds as technology advances. And while touch screen games can still be good, you still can’t beat the feel of a full-size gamepad for proper gaming experience. For Android, that means the Stratus XL. It’s the latest mobile controller by SteelSeries and offers everything a gamepad should.
Honor is Huawei’s affordable brand in Europe, and the Honor 7 promises high end design and features, but without the normally associated price tag. It’s all metal, has a full HD display and a fingerprint sensor built in. But it’s not perfect…
HTC just announced the HTC One A9, and a new phone means new marketing materials. It looks like the struggling Taiwanese company may have over-delivered in this area, as there are 9 (yes, nine) new YouTube videos on the company’s channel…
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At long last, I’ve got my hands on the affordable, premium-looking Honor 7 handset by Huawei. In Europe, the Honor brand is known for releasing good quality phones, at cheaper-than-expected prices. Considering the specs, the £249 price-point is fantastic. In the US, the $440+ price isn’t as appealing, but you might like the phone nonetheless…
Last week, Fonesalesman — the company behind the LG G4 PWRPatch I showed you recently — announced that it is launching a side table with a built in Qi-standard wireless charging unit called FurniQi. It’s made from sustainable bamboo, and is designed to remove the usual clutter associated with having wireless chargers lying around on surfaces, and I unboxed it and built it…
When you upload a video to YouTube, the site processes each frame individually and passes them through an algorithm to try and find a few of the best to be your video’s thumbnail. You get to pick between the ones it chooses, or you can upload your own. And while many YouTube creators opt for the latter option, those who aren’t as dedicated usually just go with whatever frame the site chooses.
Now, thanks to deep neural networks, the algorithm that picks the best frames is much more powerful…
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The ASUS ZenPad S 8.0 is the company’s latest attempt to bring us a competitively priced product at an affordable price. The 2GB RAM model featured in the video costs just $211 in the US (£199 in the UK) and packs a 2K resolution 8-inch display, a quad-core Intel Atom processor, 8MP f/2.0 rear camera and Android Lollipop, all in a device which looks and feels fantastic…
The budget smartphone tier is getting more interesting as every month goes by. What you can get for your money on a low budget these days is fantastic. And it gets better every time any company releases a new competitive low-end phone. While some might look to the likes of the Moto G, or Alcatel OneTouch Idol 3 as the ultimate in bang-for-buck device, there’s a new company from Britain in town which might have just released one of the most disruptive phones so far.
The Wileyfox Swift costs £129 in the UK (that’s £15-60 less than the UK Moto G), and offers an incredible all-round experience for the money…
The smartphone market is getting crowded by low cost phones offering great performance. It’s been something of a rising trend, especially with brands like OnePlus and Alcatel OneTouch leading the way. The next devices wanting a piece of the action are the Wileyfox Swift and Wileyfox Storm. Both released in what looks like a direct response to last year’s “flagship killer”, the OnePlus One.
I unboxed the more budget-friendly model of the two, the Wileyfox Swift, to see if it could deliver as much bang for your buck as other, similar devices…
Since the rise of science fiction movies, we’ve dreamed of being able to communicate to people through our wrists. In almost every case of wrist-worn gadgetry, fictional or real, that dream is met by voice dictation, or video calling. We don’t get excited by the prospect of typing in long messages to people using a tiny onscreen keyboard. Despite several attempts by tech companies in the past, it just hasn’t caught on. So it’s a little baffling when a company decides to release an app for smartwatches with the keyboard as its primary input method. I went hands on with Messages for Android Wear to find out if it was any good…
ASUS is showing itself to be a competent company at dealing with all the challenges facing traditional consumer tech manufacturers in the post-PC world. It’s released some great smartphones recently, and now it’s just released a fantastic laptop. The Chromebook Flip has won me over.
I’m sure you can imagine, as a tech-reviewer it’s not often I fall for a product just on first impressions alone. But as soon as I picked up the Chromebook Flip, I adored it. The all-metal build looks, and feels fantastic. Its rounded corners and the gentle taper of the back towards the diamond-cut chamfered edges are beautiful. On the bottom, all the edges and corners are rounded, giving it a really friendly look, and making it comfortable to grip.
What’s more, the speakers are hidden underneath two perfectly round grilles made of hundreds of tiny machined holes. But it’s the hinge that makes this unique. The screen rotates 360 degrees, and can be used in 4 different modes: laptop, tent, stand or tablet modes. Because the hinge is so firm, it holds strongly at virtually any angle.
ASUS is making a big push to disrupt the Android smartphone and tablet markets with its latest lineup of devices. Everyone’s talking about the ZenFone 2, and plenty more will be talking about the ZenPad 8.0 pretty soon. Along with a bunch of cases — including the battery boosting Power Case — I was sent the low-end Z380C model which costs just $240 in the US and just £120 in the UK. Although its spec list isn’t quite as awe-inspiring as the ZenPad 8.0 Z580, it still seems great value for money.
HTC may be in financial difficulty, but it’s still churning out decent phones. One of the most recent to hit the market is the Desire 626. It’s a competitively priced, attractive mid-range device. But with the new 3rd-generation Moto G on the market, is it worth buying?
Samsung pushed its first Galaxy Note 5 TV commercial to YouTube today, and no surprise, it’s all about what you can do with that S-Pen. Set to a fast-paced percussion soundtrack, with speedy cuts in the edit, it has been designed to make you excited at all you can do with the stylus as well as convey a sense of productivity and speed.
Yesterday, Bethesda finally launched the long-awaited Fallout Shelter for Android and I couldn’t wait to get my hands on it. In this video, I take you on a brief walkthrough and tour of the initial game stages and how to play. If you haven’t already, you can download the game for free from the Google Play Store right now.
In many ways, the LG G4c is a mini version of the LG G4. Sadly, unlike Sony’s Compact series smartphones, it’s not a small phone with flagship specs. It’s less powerful, has a lower resolution screen and a smaller battery than the high-end G4. But all of that is reflected in the price difference. We’ve unboxed the device and filmed a brief comparison between the G4c and the LG G4…
We’ve all heard the phrase that the best camera is the one you have on you, and now with the Panasonic CM1, that could finally be true. It’s possible to have a smartphone that takes amazing pictures. With a 1-inch sensor, Leica lens and some useful software tools, this is easily the best camera setup ever built into an Android device.